Civil society members and academics in Hungary are concerned about the government’s insistence on extending the state of emergency with no time limit and acquire more power taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak. An International Law expert based in Budapest, Tamás Lattmann and Hungarian Civil Liberties Union’s Political Freedoms Project Director Dalma Dojcsák answered Özge Somlyai-Çakır’s questions on the matter.
The Hungarian government announced a state of emergency on the 11th of March to fight against the coronavirus outbreak more effectively. Then, on the 20th of March, the government submitted a bill to the parliament and demanded the state of emergency to be extended until further notice. On Monday, 30th of March, the bill was voted in the parliament and passed, thus from now on it can be referred as the act that extended the state of emergency in Hungary with no specific time limit, and granted the Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the authority to rule by decree.